Oooohh-weeee! This one struck a chord this morning!!! Over the past few weeks I have been conversing with a few persons about a disease our generation suffers from called, “Instant Gratification”. We literally have NO concept of patience or waiting. We want what we want, when we want it, how we want it, period. Technology, fast food, liposuction, and the internet has created monsters of all shapes and sizes who have forgotten what it means to listen, hear, work hard, and wait. We don’t want to wait in line 5 minutes, so surly we wouldn’t survive waiting 25 years for God to fulfill a promise!!!!! People SAY they have waiting power, but we are guilty of trying to “help God” handle his business. We have hope, but truthfully we hope that He hurries up (YOLO)! Remember, IT’S OKAY TO WAIT! God truly knows what’s best for us, in what time and what order. He doesn’t need our help!

Please take a second to watch this clip after reading below. Have a blessed day, and pray for faith and patience while you WAIT on GOD! We have to learn to think positive while we are waiting on God to come through!

Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Positive Belief

The story of Abraham amazes me no matter how many times I read it. It’s not just the birth of a son when he was a hundred years old. That’s a miracle. But just as amazing is the information that he waited twenty-five years for the fulfillment of the promise. He was seventy-five when God promised Him a son.

I wonder how many of us would believe God and live in expectation for twenty-five years. Most of us probably would have said, “I didn’t really hear from God.” “Oh, I guess maybe God didn’t really mean that.” Or “I need to go somewhere else to get a fresh word from the Lord.”

In our impatience, we often take matters into our own hands. I say we get “bright ideas”–plans of our own, which we hope God will bless. These plans open the door for confusion and chaos. Then their results must be dealt with, which often delays our miracle.

The Bible gives us promises, hope, and encouragement. God promises good to those of us who serve Him. Despite the adversity of our circumstances–and some people have absolutely terrible situations–God still promises good. Our sense of goodness, however, may not be the same as God’s. Getting what we want immediately may not be best for us. Sometimes waiting is the best thing because it helps develop the character of God in us.

The Lord chooses to do good to us and to make us happy; the devil chooses to do wrong and to make us miserable. We can remain patient and keep believing God’s promises, or we can allow the evil one’s whisper to fill our ears and lead us astray.

Positive belief in God’s promises yields good results because the Good One sends them to us. Refuse to give up, and you will see the results of your positive belief.

Pray: Dear Father in heaven, forgive my lack of belief. Forgive me for allowing Satan to deceive me or make me think I’m worthless or unworthy of Your miracles. I am worthy because You made me worthy. You are the God of the impossible, and I ask You to help me wait on You and never give up. In the name of Jesus Christ my Lord, I pray. Amen.

We’ve all experienced this at some point in our lives. I’ll personally say that everyone who has said they loved me didn’t really mean or show it. Those discrepancies between word and action caused me to live EXTREMELY guarded for a while. I’ve been working on it, but still today I have my hesitations with motives and hidden agendas. Regardless of those feelings I’ve learned to love unconditionally with hopes of eventually experiencing the same…loving God’s way 🙂

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1 Corinthians 13:4-7 KJV

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Suspicious of Suspicion

In today’s scripture, these words about love are familiar to most of us, but I can honestly say that living them has not always been easy for me. As a child, I was not exposed to this kind of love–in fact, I was taught to be suspicious of everyone. I was told that the motives of other people were not to be trusted.

While it is wise to be aware of people’s motives, we must be careful that we don’t allow our suspicious nature to negatively affect our feelings about everyone. An overly suspicious nature can poison your mind and affect your ability to love and accept other people. Consider this example.

Suppose a friend approaches you after a church service, and says, “Do you know what Doris thinks about you?” Then the friend tells you every detail of the things Doris said. The first problem is that a true friend wouldn’t share such information. And the second problem is that with an already suspicious mind, you now believe secondhand information.

Suppose that one day in church, Doris is sitting just a few rows in front of you, praising the Lord. Immediately you think, “She’s such a hypocrite.”

Then the Holy Spirit directs your thoughts to your own condition, and the fact that you were praising the Lord while harboring bad feelings toward Doris. Didn’t Jesus tell us to make peace with others before we present our gifts to Him? (See Matthew 5:24.)

Convicted by these words of Jesus, you apologize to Doris for the bad feelings you have toward her…and she stares at you in absolute shock. Then you realize your mistake. You misinterpreted the information your friend shared with you about Doris, allowing the devil to turn you against a wonderful, godly woman.

This is a good example of how suspicion can cripple relationships and destroy our joy while it leads us astray.

It took me a while to overcome a lifetime of suspicions, but I finally learned that when we love God’s way, we have no place for suspicions of others.

Pray: Lord, I thank You for showing me how to overcome my suspicious nature by teaching me how to love others with Your kind of love. Thank You, Jesus, for being patient with me and for being my great example. Amen.